Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant is an American professional basketball player and businessperson. He is the son of Pamela (Cox) and Joe Bryant (Joseph Washington Bryant), a professional basketball player and coach. His parents are both African-American.

His parents picked the name Kobe after they saw a type of beef, called Kobe beef, on a restaurant menu. Kobe is a port city in the Kansai area of Japan, famous for its tender fatty marbled beef. However, he has no Japanese heritage. His middle name, Bean, is from his father’s nickname, “Jellybean”.

Kobe, who is fluent in Spanish and Italian, lived in Italy as a young child, from six to thirteen years old, as his father played professional basketball in Italy.